Purecountry

[grassfarmer]

As I see you have returned to the fold PC (note I said "fold PC" and not "PC fold" lol)I thought I would throw out an observation that might interest you and others. I had the opportunity to attend a couple of sessions at the Western Cdn grazing school on Thursday in Edmonton which was very enjoyable and informative. There are a lot of smart guys in that circle that are alternate thinkers and successful producers. What strikes me though is that they are almost all "survival of the fittest" and "outlast your neighbor" types. Their success is often based on getting the hay they need for bale grazing below the cost of production from the old guy down the road etc. Almost none of them choose to get involved in the politics of agriculture and attempt to better the lot of all producers. It strikes me as standing out from the holistic stance they take in their businesses. They are basing their success on a symptom - a non-functioning market, rather than addressing the base problem - lack of competition at the packer end. Another feature of these successful producers is that they almost all externalise risk - ie they feed or graze someone else's cattle often on rented ground. Now this is all well and good for their business (and I have no problem with people making money)but they have also got to realize that their policy will only work as long as someone else is prepared to take the risk and own the cattle.

[agstar77]

That's pretty much a useless statement ,without context. Also sounds like sour g****s on a lost sale.

[LWeber]

You are right again Agstar.

The United States dislikes the CWB because it sells wheat above their price time and time again driving up the price of world wheat and putting more money to the American farmer's bottom line.

The next time i see the words "CWB premium" - I'll just insert your line.

"That's pretty much a useless statement ,without context."

The CWB is a religion. You don't have to see it to know that it is divine. And it feels good.

62% of barley farmers don't feel that way. And since your beloved have grouped all their votes to to arrive at 62% - none of you left wing whacks better ever question the validity of the 62% barley vote.

[mustardman]

Larry and vise versa:
"and since all your beloved have grouped all your votes to arrive at 62% - none of you right wing hacks better ever question the validity of the 62% electoral vote. lol

[LWeber]

With regards to barley marketing - those that want choice don't apply for bulk discounts for cases of KY nor patronage dividends on said purchase from the Co-Op.

See the difference?

[silverback]

Something has gone wrong on your web page again Parsley.

The tablecloth has seized control again.

[parsley]

That pretty much sums it up.

[parsley]

I did a little work silver. But don't forget to click on the historical documents and they will download in a large print. Read them before you go to bed so you won't be up all night pacing about tommorrow's voting results.lol btw, mustard, if you read the documents you will be converted and will be hoping four choice candidates win. lol Pars

[smcgrath76]

I think you are onto something here GF. One of the issues, even for the custom type of operation is that if the overall strength of the industry suffers, then there will be less people willing to take the risk and certainly less willing to pay for the service of grazing.
There are thousands of good business models, but in the end, unless we are creating true wealth so everyone wins it is not sustainable. Just some of us will be sustained longer than others.
I don't think it is right to talk about growth without defining it. More cows does not mean more profitable, nor do bigger or smaller farms. A product that can extract value from the marketplace (including environmental, watershed protection, food quality/safety, production method, etc.) is the only way to grow the "value" of the industry and create a culture of winners, rather than screwer and screwee.

[grassfarmer]

As a perfect example I listened to one excellent speaker who is a feedlot operator owning some cattle as well as custom feeding others. His talk was about knowing your cost of production and managing risk. The intricate methods he had in place to do these were amazing to me - his level of understanding of risk, futures, basis etc. But the back stop of his whole operation was that everything he sold went by non-competitive bid to Lakeside packers due to their close proximity. The decision to buy calves and how much to pay for them started with that estimated final less all the cost,basis and risk allowances. Needless to say he thinks calves are too expensive to own at the moment.
Nothing in his speech, or seemingly his thinking reflected the fact that Lakeside are paying half as much for cattle as they were pre 1989 when corrected for inflation as revealed by the NFU.
As you say Sean - not sustainable. This type of thinking may be a good way to protect your own business in tough times but if your supplier (the cow owner)can't survive you ultimately can't either.